Election Reform

Snarkoleptic

(6,024 posts) Wed Sep 11, 2019, 04:51 PM Sep 2019

America's Electronic Voting System is Corrupted to the Core - Jenny Cohn

Last edited Wed Sep 11, 2019, 06:12 PM - Edit history (1)

This is a must-read article for anyone concerned about the use of e-voting machines to subvert the democratic process.
https://medium.com/@jennycohn1/americas-electronic-voting-system-is-corrupted-to-the-core-1f55f34f346e

(on edit, it seems the link doesn't work - prolly because @jennycohn1 is part of the URL)
Here's another link-
https://tinyurl.com/yxgg8d79

Voting machine vendors have an alarming history of deception. In July 2018, cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter reported that, despite ES&’s prior denials, ES&S’s election-management system (EMS) computers were sold with remote access software between 2000 and 2006. ES&S won’t say where it installed the remote access software that it lied about, but claims it’s been removed. According to Zetter’s article, Diebold’s EMS computers were sold with remote access software as well, and Dominion refused to comment.

The installation of remote access software in EMS computers is a big deal because these are centralized county or state computers used to program all voting machines in the county or state. According to Zetter’s reporting, some of these computers also include the central tabulators that aggregate all precinct totals.

But the vendor lies don’t end there. On August 8, 2019, Zetter further reported that ES&S’s EMS computers also connect to the internet, something else that ES&S had said was not the case but that leading election-security experts had long suspected.

Meanwhile, ES&S installed wireless modems in ballot scanners in Florida, Wisconsin, and Illinois starting in about 2015. Although some election officials claimed that these modems do not connect to the internet, this too was a lie, as further reported by Zetter.

10 replies

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Highlight:

America's Electronic Voting System is Corrupted to the Core - Jenny Cohn (Original Post) Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 OP

We should have just stayed with the old reliable lever machines. Meadowoak Sep 2019 #1

Even an occasional 'hanging chad' would be better than this black-box system we're saddled with. Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 #3

I am okay with the scannable ballots TheRealNorth Sep 2019 #7

Agree, so long as it's a hand-marked paper ballot. Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 #8

If you know the history of e-voting, it's been corrupted since its inception. Many tried to warn Amaryllis Sep 2019 #10

Here's a decent article on these BMD (ballot marking devices). Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 #9

Isn't this something that stronger laws with stiffer penalties... dchill Sep 2019 #2

I already knew much of what was in the linked article, but seeing it all together in a single Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 #4

I couldn't find the article at the link! Karadeniz Sep 2019 #5

OK, edited the OP Snarkoleptic Sep 2019 #6

Meadowoak

(6,127 posts)

1. We should have just stayed with the old reliable lever machines.

Reply to Snarkoleptic (Original post)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 04:56 PM

Sep 2019

Snarkoleptic

(6,024 posts)

3. Even an occasional 'hanging chad' would be better than this black-box system we're saddled with.

Reply to Meadowoak (Reply #1)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 05:11 PM

Sep 2019

I'd like to see legislation that would-

1) Return us to hand-marked paper ballots until we can get our elections secured.
2) Require election software be open-source.
3) Ban private ownership of any election equipment.
4) Impose heavy prison sentences for anyone who alters votes, totals, or voting rolls.
5) Every U.S. citizen is automatically registered on their 18th birthday.
6) Vote by mail/early voting universally available.
7) Make election day a national holiday.

(Of course, any/all of this would require politicians who are serious about democracy)

TheRealNorth

(9,629 posts)

7. I am okay with the scannable ballots

Reply to Meadowoak (Reply #1)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 06:22 PM

Sep 2019

You have a paper record and the technology is pretty reliable.

Snarkoleptic

(6,024 posts)

8. Agree, so long as it's a hand-marked paper ballot.

Reply to TheRealNorth (Reply #7)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 06:39 PM

Sep 2019

The e-voting mischief makers are trying to blur the lines by using paper that's marked up by a machine.

Amaryllis

(9,793 posts)

10. If you know the history of e-voting, it's been corrupted since its inception. Many tried to warn

Reply to Snarkoleptic (Reply #8)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 07:49 PM

Sep 2019

about this. Just follow the money. Look at who owns the voting machine companies.

Snarkoleptic

(6,024 posts)

9. Here's a decent article on these BMD (ballot marking devices).

Reply to TheRealNorth (Reply #7)

Wed Sep 11, 2019, 06:42 PM

Sep 2019

https://www.salon.com/2019/03/28/new-hybrid-voting-system-can-change-paper-ballot-after-its-been-cast_partner/

For years, election security experts have assured us that, if properly implemented, paper ballots and routine manual audits can catch electronic vote tally manipulation.

Unfortunately, there is no universal definition of “paper ballot,” which has enabled vendors and their surrogates to characterize machine-marked paper printouts from hackable ballot marking devices (BMDs) as “paper ballots.” Unlike hand-marked paper ballots, voters must print and inspect these machine-marked “paper ballots” to try to detect any fraudulent or erroneous votes that might have been marked by the BMD. The machine-marked ballot is then counted on a separate scanner.

Most independent cybersecurity election experts caution against putting these insecure BMDs between voters and their ballots and instead recommend hand-marked paper ballots as a primary voting system (reserving BMDs only for those who are unable to hand mark their ballots). But vendors and many election officials haven’t listened and are now pushing even more controversial “hybrid” systems that combine both a BMD and a scanner into a single unit. These too are now sold for use as a primary voting system.

Unlike hand-marked paper ballots counted on scanners and regular non-hybrid BMDs, these new hybrid systems can add fake votes to the machine-marked “paper ballot” afterit’s been cast, experts warn. Any manual audit based on such fraudulent “paper ballots” would falsely approve an illegitimate electronic outcome.